


Justifications

by Boney_M



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: /trash/ OCs, Dubious Consent, Dubious Ethics, Dubious Morality, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-07-16 01:53:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7247398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boney_M/pseuds/Boney_M
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because fanfiction of a fanfiction wasn't bad enough: fanfiction of a roleplayer. Egged on by some terrible people on the internet, Beaver wrestles with the idea of taking the free will of his flatmates away, for their own good. Or mostly their own good, anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Christ, and I thought the Bun and Red story was hard to explain...
> 
> Okay, first off, serious warning. If you're not okay with the thought of the protagonist of this story considering a relationship with at best extremely dubious consent, this isn't a story for you.
> 
> With that said, this is another story from the /trash/ Zootopia threads on 4chan. Beaver is a roleplayer who did a 'tour' of Zootopia, fleshing out each of the districts where he poked around and visited the sights as recommended by the thread. It often featured other roleplayers of the thread, and the /trash/ thread being the /trash/ thread, things got a bit homoerotic. Beaver got away with his innocence mostly intact, but there's still teasing about it.
> 
> Lately, one of the thread's story ideas has been 'Pastor' - a Nighthowler derivative that has the effect of 'taming' a creature and making them extremely dependent on and obedient to another mammal. Beaver proclaimed the whole idea sick and wrong, and naturally enough, accusations arose that he was just covering for his desire to turn his flatmates into his love-slaves. The thread quickly ganged up on him, egging on to do exactly that, and suggesting he could do it for noble reasons, taking the burden of everyday life upon himself and leaving the two of them free to be happy and carefree. During this Beaver gave enough details about them that a fragment of their character started to develop in my mind, and the rest is history.

Beaver was shaking like a leaf. He didn't know what had possessed him. He didn't think he ever made a conscious decision to go through with things. First he was just paying Nocturnal District another visit. Then he just happened to find himself at Sunset Drive, and there was nothing wrong with having a bit of spending money in his pockets, was there? And now he was back at home, looking at a small square of folded cloth that felt unnaturally heavy in his hand.

He looked over at the door to his room, checking the lock for the third or fourth time, before taking a deep breath and unwrapping the cloth with a shaking hand. Maybe he got scammed, he thought desperately. Maybe there'd just be a small container of tapwater or something and he could forget any of it happened. But when he peeled back the cloth, he was faced with six tissue-wrapped objects, and when the tissue was peeled back he was looking at a half-dozen glass vials filled with a sky-blue liquid that seemed to shimmer eerily in the light. Pastor. The taming drug.

He felt out of breath, staring at the small handful of vials. They seemed so small and innocent, but they represented so much. He never should have listened to the damn thread. Even if his roommates did have their issues, even if life did seem to get them down, it wasn't right to even be considering this.

He made his mind up to dispose of the vials as soon as the coast was clear, and stuffed them under his pillow for safekeeping until then. Then he rose to his feet and went out into the shared living area to spend some time with his flatmates.

\---

Once again, Beaver cursed the thread.

Surely Freddy and Jacob hadn't changed. They were the same they always were. But suddenly all he could see was the cracks in their facades. Freddy sat on the couch playing a video game he'd beaten three times already just to keep from having to think about anything else with no sign of enjoyment. Jacob sat at the table skimming through a magazine and making inane conversation but kept checking his phone for a message that would never come from a girl that had broken up with him three weeks ago, and every time he did his smile got a little more strained.

And on the other side of the coin he kept... noticing things. Maybe it was the thread's fault, maybe it was just a bit of an awakening after the events of his grand tour of Zootopia. Either way, when Freddy hauled himself off the couch to plod over to the fridge to stare blankly at it's contents, Beaver couldn't help but notice how his lithe otter body looked dressed in the tank-top and shorts he always wore when lounging around the house. And when Jacob tried to distract himself from his thoughts by pottering about in the kitchen and making a dish of clams and oysters for himself and Freddy, Beaver watched Jacob's self-doubt pick away at him until he was constantly running back and forth from the kitchen to Freddy to take samples trying to perfect the level of spices, until Freddy got fed up, turned off the console and slunk away to his room, leaving Jacob trying not to show how hurt he was.

Jacob put together a couple of dishes of the probably-perfectly-fine-but-in-his-mind-flawed meal and left one outside Freddy's door with a timid knock, covered with another dish to keep it warm, and took the other to the table to pick away at it half-heartedly. He looked up to see Beaver's gaze lingering on him and gave a tremulous smile. "You're quiet tonight."

Beaver jumped slightly, having almost forgotten he wasn't just a silent observer of his flatmates. He gave a shaky smile of his own and did his best to come up with an excuse. "I just- life getting to me, y'know?"

Jacob gave a shaky laugh. "I know that feeling. Never really got the hang of life, y'know? I just think everything's going right and then-" he looked down at his mobile again and shook his head. "I just get the shit kicked out of my heart."

Beaver looked at Jacob for a long moment, his heart beating hard in his chest, and without thinking said; "if you could give up control of it to someone else, would you?"

Jacob laughed again, but this time it was bitter. "Shit, that was what I was trying to do. But then she decided she didn't want it. Couldn't even give it away, how pathetic is that?"

Impulsively, Beaver reached across the table and put his paw on Jacob's. "Hey, man. Her loss."

Jacob blinked, and then smiled, a genuine smile for probably the first time that day. "Thanks. Really. I appreciate that."

They sat together for a long while, Beaver's paw on Jacob's, smiling at each other.

After the moment ended, Jacob took back his paw and turned to take his plate back to the kitchen, and Beaver finally fled back to his room. He hadn't dared to until Jacob had turned away, lest he see how painfully, throbbingly hard he was.

\---

Beaver was staring at the vials again. For the past few days every spare moment had been spent hypnotized by the possibilities inherent in them, either staring at them thoughtfully or spending time with his flatmates, desperately searching for any hint that they were happy with their lives and finding none. Freddy seemed to drift through life on pure inertia, doing the things that used to entertain him out of habit and being frustrated with the world in general. He was aimless, angry, and probably depressed as hell, and because he didn't know what he wanted from life he didn't even have a destination to start dragging himself towards. So he just marinated in his own bad moods.

Jacob was a hot mess. He was painfully codependent and without anyone to codepend on, which was just magnifying his own neuroses. Jacob clinged to the people around him reflexively, and with Freddy it ended in tears (usually, but not always, figuratively) as Freddy's constant dark moods rubbed off on him. When Jacob turned his clinginess on Beaver, however, it got weird. Beaver had found himself disturbingly receptive to Freddy's attentions since the damn thread had laid their twisted seed in his mind. And though Jacob was straight, at least as far as he knew, his reliance on positive attention from others overpowered it, and with a receptive target in Beaver he almost started acting like a housewife. More than once he had dragged himself out of bed in the morning to find an annoyingly chipper and half-dressed otter pottering around the kitchen making breakfast for him, and since their diets were mostly incompatible he couldn't even say that he was just making breakfast for himself and doubling up the recipe.

But when Jacob was away from Beaver - most of the day, since Beaver had to go to work - Jacob was consumed with his own lack of a partner. Every day when Beaver got home, Jacob's morning chipperness had eroded away and he was morose and mooning over pictures of his ex and staring at a phone that would not ring. He was clearly miserable, and unable or unwilling to drag himself away from his angst.

And on the other side of the coin, the more Beaver watched them the more he started to wonder about himself. He'd always considered himself heterosexual, even though he had an adventure or two on his grand tour that suggested otherwise. But truth be told, there wasn't much difference visually between beaver men and women, so he didn't really have a mental link between gender and appearance, and his otter flatmates didn't smell male or female by beaver standards. So the fact that they were males didn't even enter into his mind unless he forced it to. Which he was having to quite often, lately.

They were just so lithe. The word kept entering into his mind whenever he looked at them. Even when Freddy was slouched on a couch it just seemed to emphasize how slim he was. And when Jacob was in a good mood, the spring in his step and bounce in his tail just made him seem so alive. Everything about them seemed to be built for happy, carefree playfulness, and when he saw his two flatmates haunted by their own issues and so far away from that ideal, it tore at his heart.

He could fix it. He could make them happy. All it would cost... is their free will. Which sounded monstrous, but when they seemed so unable to find their own way to happiness, would it be so wrong for someone to take them by the hand and lead them there?

He couldn't pretend his reasons were entirely noble. But that didn't change the fact that they could be so much happier.

The sky-blue liquid glimmered back at him from the vials, taunting him with possibility.

What was it the dealer had said? One dose, compliance for a day. Two, infatuation for a week. Three, puppy-love for a month. Four, tamed for life. And each vial was enough to dose both of his flatmates. Maybe he could just... try it. Give them a break from themselves for a day. And then he could let it wear off and forget it ever happened. The break from stress might even be good for them. Medicinal, you could say.

Beaver knew he was talking himself into taking baby steps along the road to Hell. But he also knew that the path looked oh so inviting. And he could always just turn around and walk away, couldn't he?

Sleep didn't come easily to Beaver that night.

\---

He decided to do it on a work day.

It was easier on his conscience that way. He wasn't doing it for himself, or so he reasoned. If he wasn't there to experience their altered selves, it was just for them. And if he got home in time to experience their new selves, it would just be to see how it had effected them. It was just a little break from their usual negative thought patterns. A vacation from themselves. It would be healing for them.

Or so he reasoned.

So he got up early and started making breakfast for Freddy and Jacob. A bit of research online had turned up a nice recipe to pamper them a bit, cream cheese, egg and salmon breakfast burritos, and one with much less salmon for him - the taste of fish was unusual but not bad on his palate, and as long as he didn't eat too much he could stomach it fine. And on the side, nice tall glasses of blueberry cider. One each for the two of them, that would be tainted with the contents of one of the vials. He'd considered pouring one for himself, but that had shenanigans written all over it, and he'd decided on some nice lemonade instead.

Jacob awoke first, as usual, just before breakfast was ready, and was lead out of his room by his nose while dressed in nothing but boxer shorts, and Beaver had to busy himself in his cooking to keep from staring, his thoughts so distracted he had to read and reread every line of the recipe several times before it sunk in. Jacob had been surprised at first and then excited, hugging Beaver from behind in gratitude, and then rushing into Freddy's room to rouse him. Beaver could hear the groaning protests of both bedsprings and Freddy and Beaver busied himself even further with the cooking, trying not to imagine the scene with two near-naked otters in the same bed.

By the time the burritos were placed upon plates and plates and the all-important glasses placed on the table, a protesting Freddy had been dragged out of his room, as near-naked as Jacob, and his protests dried up the moment he spied breakfast. With hasty muttered thanks that Beaver knew from long experience with him were heartfelt, he took his seat and tucked in. Jacob did the same, but with a thankful smile shot at Beaver that did funny things to his heart. To occupy his thoughts, and keep from staring too hard at the glasses, he busied himself with his own meal. The cream cheese and eggs were almost but not quite too heavy for breakfast, and nicely countered with the lemonade besides, and the taste of salmon, though alien to his beaver palate, combined nicely with it. It was a sinfully indulgent way to start the day.

Before long, all the plates were cleaned off and the glasses emptied. Beaver tried to busy himself with clearing the table, but was brusquely stopped by Freddy, who's eyes were partly closed. Beaver watched Freddy take the dishes to the kitchen. It must have been starting already, then, he reasoned. While he was watching, Jacob sidled up to him and hugged him again, snuggling into his side. "Thanks, Beaver. I appreciate it."

It definitely must have started, Beaver thought, putting an arm around Jacob's shoulders and enjoying the physical contact.

\---

It wasn't just about having them cater to him, or so Beaver told himself. This was supposed to help them. So after breakfast was cleared away, when the three of them were reclining on the couch and just digesting, Beaver took a deep breath, remembered his plans, and spoke up.

"Look, Jacob, I know you've been struggling a bit lately. Honestly man, she was a bitch and you're better off without her, and torturing yourself about it is pretty much what she wanted. Just for today, leave your phone alone, man. If someone texts it can wait, if it's important they'll call. Just leave it in your room and enjoy the day, okay?"

Jacob looked shocked, but absorbed what Beaver said and nodded after a moment. "I guess I've been a bit obsessed lately. I don't think you're right about her but it might be a good idea to put it all out of my mind for the day."

Beaver was internally thrilled, glad the Pastor had made Jacob so suggestible. He knew that Jacob wouldn't have agreed to give up that tiny glimmer of hope without a push. And now for the harder of the two problems. "And Freddy, man, I've got nothing against video games but I don't think I've seen you have fun with a game you've been playing in months. You've just been drifting, and you don't enjoy life any more. Maybe you should take a break for today. Get some sun. Spend some time with Jacob, you two used to hang out all the time."

There was a long silence as Freddy mulled it over, and Beaver knew that without the Pastor this would probably go terribly. Freddy could be awfully prickly at the best of times. But after a long, tense moment, Freddy nodded reluctantly. "I guess it couldn't hurt."

Beaver reached out and patted their knees, one in each paw, before hauling himself up. "Well, I've got to get changed and go to work. Have a nice day, you two."

\---

Beaver's thoughts were spinning as he made his way home from work. He had been unable to concentrate at work through most of the day, consumed with wondering what had been going on at home. He had had a number of fantasies, of course, each less likely than the last, as well as a number of imagined scenarios where it all went terribly wrong. Would he get home to a pair of nubile and eager slave-boys, or to police officers waiting to take him to jail? So it was with some trepidation that he walked up to and eventually opened his front door.

The sight that met him was only slightly unexpected. An armchair had been dragged across the room to sit in a sunbeam in front of a window, and Freddy and Jacob were dozing in it - not quite snuggled up in each other's arms as some of his fantasies had suggested, but side-by-side and holding paws. Holding paws was purely innocent for otters and didn't have the same implications it did for most mammals, he knew - it was to keep them from floating apart if they were side-by-side at sea or in a river - but it still made his heart melt at how adorable it was.

He closed the door behind him as quietly as he could and made his way to his room to drop off his stuff.

\---

Beaver quickly set up camp in the living room with his laptop as cover to observe his two flatmates. When the two of them had woken from their adorable sun-warmed slumber, they had parted with a friendly 'no homo', with Freddy returning to his book - an old fantasy novel that he had loved as a teenager but had been gathering dust on his shelf for years - and Jacob watching water polo on TV. It hadn't taken long before Freddy had been sucked in - with a little nudge from his Pastor-backed instruction to spend time with Jacob, Beaver figured - and he had immediately started backing the team up against Jacob's. The two of them started wrestling good-naturedly in the ad breaks while Beaver watched thoughtfully.

He had helped them. His intentions hadn't been entirely pure but they hadn't been entire selfish either and it had done them good. They looked happier than he had seen them in ages.

Maybe he should dose them again the next day. Extend the little vacation from their troubles to a week.

\---

Beaver had the next day off, giving him more time to wrestle with the decision - enough of the Pastor would be lingering in his flatmates' systems that he had until about mid-afternoon to dose them again to get the longer effect. Neither of them was working this week, so if he did go for a week-long experiment it wouldn't hurt their lives if it had odd side-effects. Something that lingered shamefully in his thoughts was that he hadn't taken advantage of the Pastor at all, and that it was a missed opportunity.

The instructions he had given seemed to linger in his flatmates' minds. Jacob had checked his phone a couple of times, but then had scowled, picked it up, and taken it back to his room, giving Beaver a fragile smile as he emerged again. Freddy had gone through his entire game collection restlessly, declared them all 'shit', and had ventured out to the local video game store in search of something that would hopefully be less so. He was supposed to be home in time for lunch, so Beaver's theoretical plan was to supply and spike lunch. In the meantime, he was spending time alone with Jacob.

They had been chatting about this and that while Jacob lounged on the couch and Beaver idly surfed on his laptop, sitting on the armchair next to the couch. After a long period of building up his nerve, Beaver closed his laptop with a snap and embarked on a conversational gambit.

"Hey Jacob?"

"Mmm?"

"You're straight, right?"

"Yeah?"

"You ever do anything... not so straight?"

Jacob twisted to look over at Beaver, taking in his troubled expression, then shrugged. His tongue loosened by the Pastor still in his system, Beaver figured. "Sure. Had a wingman back in college, we used to put on shows for the girls. Worked a lot of the time. When it didn't, and I'd drunk a bit much, I used to think about going home with him instead, but he was either fully straight or ridiculously in denial." He smiled at Beaver's shocked look. "I didn't fall in love so easy back then. Got laid like crazy. Then I got my romance fetish and the rest is history. Miserable, pathetic history." He gave a dark little chuckle at himself, no real mirth in his voice. "Why do you ask?"

Beaver wrestled with his voice for a moment before going for broke. "When I went on my grand tour of Zootopia I had a few... encounters. They made me wonder about myself, I guess."

Jacob smiled comfortingly. "Don't sweat it too much, man. Everyone's a bit flexible, whether they admit it to themselves or not. Hey, you know Freddy's bi?"

"What?"

"Yeah, back in high school when he was hooked on MMOs he was internet-dating a girl in his guild that turned out, when they met in real life, to be a really femmy guy. Didn't hurt that he was a river otter, either. Freddy stewed on it for a while until he decided to go for it. They were together for a year and a half before they ended up going to different colleges."

"Wow. I never realized." Beaver stared into space, trying to reconcile this with what he knew of Freddy. Freddy had always been a fairly private mammal, so he knew there were parts of his life that he had no insight into, but he'd never even considered that Freddy might swing both ways. But, he supposed, that was the point Jacob was getting at. Everyone was a little bit flexible.

"Hey, Beaver?"

"Yeah?"

"Is your vacation the only reason that's on your mind?"

Beaver sat skewered by Jacob's look, which suddenly seemed to be uncharacteristically piercing, and felt his heartrate increase. He had grown overconfident from the power that Pastor had given him over his flatmates, and had forgotten how surprisingly insightful Jacob could be at times. He opened and closed his mouth a few times as he fumbled for a response, until Jacob freed him.

"Hey, don't sweat it. Guess we're all a bit flexible, huh?" Though his words seemed to let him off the hook, his lingering gaze suggested a deeper meaning that didn't require much interpreting. As Jacob's gaze finally left him in favour of closing his eyes for a snooze, Beaver was left shaken to his core and wondering what it meant. And how much the Pastor was to be credited for Jacob's lack of inhibition on the matter.

\---

Beaver paced back and forth in his room, feeling two paths opening up before him. On one path, he threw away the vials and let things return to normal. Let Jacob go back to mooning over goddamn whatshername and Freddy get lost in his own moods again. But at least they'd be themselves. 

Or he could dose them again. Continue tip-toeing down the path to hell. Keep pushing them to better themselves. Explore where things were going with Jacob, maybe it didn't count as making him a sex slave if he seemed to be pursuing it himself. And Jacob seemed so much happier today. And when Freddy had called all his games shit, at least he had been engaging with the world on some level. It was progress, it was betterment! It was for their own good, right?

As his thoughts chased each other in circles, his foot met some discarded clothes with a clink of claw on glass. He absent-mindedly picked up the garment - his shorts from yesterday morning, he remembered - and fished through the pockets. He had left the vial in the pocket, he thought. Clumsy, stupid. His paw found the vial and pulled it out, and he saw, in his paw, a full vial of sky-blue liquid.

He stared wide-eyed at it for a moment, before striding over to where he had hidden the others. Five full vials greeted him.

He thought back. Jacob had woken up earlier than he had expected, and then he'd busied himself with the cooking to distract himself from thoughts of scantily-clad otter boys frolicking. He'd never actually remembered to spike the drinks. He'd just put them on the table and then watched so carefully as they drank the perfectly ordinary cider...

So nothing in the past day and a half had been under the effects of the drug. The only thing new had been that he'd cooked for them, and cared for them, and been absolutely convinced that his actions would have an effect.

He'd just had confidence that he could help them, and he had. Just as he had confidence that, if he so desired, he could turn the two of them into his love slaves, and suddenly Jacob was not-so-subtly hitting on him and he'd learned that Freddy was bi.

He didn't need the drug. He'd never needed it.

\---

>just because someone is unhappy doesn't mean you should turn their minds to mush and make them your slave.  
>You just gotta be there for them, talk and listen, make them their favorite snacks, crack jokes, be an actual friend!  
-Beaver, /trash/ Zootopia Thread, 19/6/16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'know, Pastor as a concept is pretty messed up. Even apart from it's use as basically a date-rape drug, it raises a lot of questions about free will and self-determination, and it's pretty easy for things to get uncomfortable. And while I'm fairly desensitized to uncomfortable things - the other use of this screen name is as a fairly major contributor to some games on /d/, for crying out loud - the idea of robbing Beaver's flatmates of their free will to be sexual playthings was a lot more palatable before I started writing them. In particular, before poor earnest needy broken little Jacob started tugging on my heartstrings.
> 
> So about when I had written to the point when Beaver was serving breakfast for his flatmates, I posted this in the thread:
> 
> >writing a story where you're going to do terrible things to the characters  
> >fall in love with them  
> >unable to continue your original plans
> 
> FUCK
> 
> I thought about Beaver just dosing them once and then not continuing down that path, but even that would hang a shadow over their future relationship. And then the end as it is now occurred to me, and I only had to make a few tiny changes to make it possible.
> 
> For the sake of historicity, here's the link to the thread that started it all: http://www.ztarchive.com/trash/thread/3537122/3537122.html#p3538037


	2. Chapter 2

"You're a giant goddamn nerd, Freddy."

"Really?" Freddy didn't take his eyes off the target, the sling whirring over his head as it picked up speed. "Thank you for this information, Beaver. I hadn't realized-" he grunted with effort as he loosed the pebble, grinning to himself as the metal plate tied to a tree fifty yards away rang with the impact. "I hadn't realized that dressing up like a Middle Tribal Period holt militiaman and going to a fucking Tribal Faire would make me a nerd."

Beaver rolled his eyes, but couldn't keep the smile off his face. He'd been trying to nudge Freddy to do something but get angry at video games for a week, and he'd finally relented, swearing him to secrecy before rummaging through his closet and producing the outfit he was wearing now - a belted jute tunic that reached down to his knees, and, as far as Beaver could tell, nothing else. They'd taken a train and two buses to get to a specific point on the outskirts of Zootopia, where the artificial weather gave way to natural grassland and winding rivers, and a series of tents and stalls had been set up by the local small mammal chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism for their monthly get-together. Everywhere he looked there were mammals dressed in period clothing, from tunics to chainmail, and brandishing weapons that went out of style centuries ago. Even Freddy had a dirk on his waist to go with his sling.

Happy though he was to see Freddy enjoying himself, Beaver felt self-conscious. The only other people around that weren't in costume were obviously family of SCA members, and he was the only one not in period dress that lacked a glazed that's-nice-dear look. The idea of being assumed to be Freddy's boyfriend was sending a bunch of feelings through him, and while it wasn't entirely uncomfortable he did want to show willing. Catching Freddy's eye, he beckoned for him to follow, and turned and headed into a nearby stretch of riverside woodland.

\---

Under Freddy's confused gaze, Beaver went from sapling to sapling, evaluating each with a combination of beaver instinct and a whole lot of construction experience, and eventually found one that was to his liking. He bent over to chew away at the base of it, trying not to think of how he was giving Freddy an eyeful of beaver butt, and soon enough he was able to snap the base of the trunk off and had a good, solid length of wood to work with. He planted his butt on a fallen tree by the river and started to peel the bark off with his paws and teeth, and a moment later Freddy walked up to him. "Making a weapon for yourself?"

"Yeah, gonna build a proper beaver javelin to fit in. It won't quite be a proper akontia without the metal tip, so if anyone asks I'm an early-period tributary levy."

"And you called me a nerd. This why you pulled me into the woods?"

"Well, yeah. Why did you think?"

"Oh, with how chummy you and Jacob have been acting recently I assumed you had an otter fetish and were going to try to seduce me."

Beaver froze for a moment, shocked, but long exposure to Freddy had given him the ability to banter on his feet, and while he was still processing the statement he heard his mouth respond, "and you followed me in anyway?" Freddy just shrugged, an odd little smirk on his lips. The more Beaver thought, the less sure he was about whether or not Freddy was joking, and he couldn't help but feel that Freddy knew what he was thinking and was enjoying his confoundment. The silence stretched for a just a moment too long before he found his voice again and said "there's a 'wood' pun in there somewhere, I'm sure of it."

"Something like 'I dragged you in here to get wood, but not quite in that way'?"

"Damn, that's actually better."

They shared a chuckle, and the moment dissipated as Beaver started to gnaw a point onto the end of his javelin and Freddy sat down on the log next to him. Beaver wasn't sure how he felt about that - if he was going to try to make a move on Freddy that had probably been a good time to do it, but he was still wrestling with his feelings on the matter. Now that the Pastor plan was well and truly buried and replaced with his newfound confidence in his ability to make positive changes in his friends' lives, it was probably a lot more practical to either forget about the whole otter love slaves thing, or just see where things went with the much more openly affectionate Jacob. But as he was thinking that, his train of thought was abruptly derailed and he almost choked on a mouthful of wood chips. Freddy, in that characteristically nonchalant way of his, had sidled up to him and snuggled into his fur, looping a paw possessively around Beaver's arm.

He'd worn that internal debate away to nothing, about whether otter cuddles meant anything more than platonic friendship. He'd sat in tormented bliss sandwiched between Freddy and Jacob trying to work out what it meant for fruitless hours. Eventually, he had resolved to enjoy it. So he did just that, continuing to work on his javelin with his spare arm and his teeth as Freddy watched the river flow next to him.

\---

After Beaver had finished the javelin, the two of them had sat for a while in comfortable silence before making their way back to the fair. With a weapon by his side, he felt a lot more at home. He even had a few mammals come up to him and ask where he bought it, and when he said he made it himself they seemed impressed. He idly entertained a fantasy of quitting his job and opening a woodcraft stand at these monthly fairs instead as he and Freddy wandered the stalls, killing time until Freddy's main reason for attending, that he had almost backed out of until Beaver's prodding - the competitive target shooting in the day's tourney.

When the time came, marked by a meerkat ringing a bell wandering around and announcing it at the top of his lungs, the two of them made their way to the shooting range, where a small gallery of mismatched folding and stacking chairs surrounded a roped-off area with target butts for archers, upright wooden logs for javelineers, and dangling metal plates for slingers. Freddy idly twirled his sling, took a deep breath, and said "wish me luck, Beav."

The part of Beaver's mind that had been sulking at him for not jumping when opportunity knocked back in the forest prodded him into action, and before he had a chance to think too much about it he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, went up to Freddy's side, and begun tying it around his bicep. "I don't know much about tourneys, but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to have something like this."

Freddy looked down at the handkerchief, then at Beaver in surprise, before a smile spread across his face. He leaned in and whispered "that's pretty fucking gay, dude." And then with a wink and a smile, he turned and went to wait for his turn to shoot, the handkerchief dangling proudly from his arm. Beaver sat back down, and waited for his heart to stop beating so hard in his chest. And as he watched, he remembered that the handkerchief was the same one that had once been wrapped around six light blue vials.

\---

After a short delay as the judges tried to figure out what targets a civet with a chakram would be throwing at, the shooting contest went fairly quickly. Though normally he'd find the demonstration of archaic weaponry at least mildly entertaining, he was too occupied with waiting for Freddy's turn to pay much attention to it.

When Freddy's turn to shoot came up, Beaver noted with some surprise that the handkerchief was still tied to his arm, though moved higher up on the bicep to keep from interfering with the shooting. Beaver watched the material flutter back and forth as Freddy spun the sling, and with a flick of the wrist sent a stone spinning through the air almost too quick to see. With a practiced motion he pulled another stone from a pouch he had tied to his belt and started the sling spinning once more. Nine more stones got fired, and a tenth was being spun as the judge announced time, and Freddy gradually brought the spinning stone to a halt again.

The announcer gave the results - ten fired, seven hit in a minute - as Freddy made his way to Beaver, a frown marring his face. When he reached the spectator's section he dragged a rickety stackable chair next to Beaver's and collapsed into it with a huff, immediately pressing up against Beaver's side. Unprompted, he angrily muttered "I did ten of twelve last time I was here. Fuckin' hopeless. I've let myself slip a whole lot."

Beaver put an arm around Freddy's shoulders, pulling him in closer. "Hey, man, it's still pretty damn impressive. And there's always next time, right? You said these happen every month."

Beaver felt Freddy's shoulders move under his arm as he shrugged. "Yeah, but I haven't been in-" Freddy trailed off, and there was silence between them for a moment, punctuated by the twang and thud of a weasel archer firing arrows into the targets. "Hey, Beaver?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you come with me to the next one?"

"Of course."

"Thanks, man. I- thanks."

They sat in comfortable silence for the rest of the competition.

\---

Freddy's performance had been decent enough to put him at fifth out of eighteen slingers, as it turned out - not quite enough to earn him any sort of award, but enough for him to perk up slightly. Afterwards the two of them had made their way to the food area, where they had grabbed a tub of salad and a reasonably large cardboard bucket of fries, slightly desperately described as 'fryde wonder roots from beyonde the seas!'. Snacking on the fries as they went, they decided to get away from the crowds, and made their way back to the wooded area where Beaver had made his javelin, and after arriving found a reasonably clear patch of grass to sit on by the river.

The two of them sat side by side and watched the river flow by as they shared the salad, Freddy nibbling away at the thin strips of bugmeat and Beaver munching through the greens. Freddy seemed to be watching Beaver thoughtfully, and Beaver almost asked him what the matter was several times before thinking again and remaining silent. After the two of them finished off the food, Freddy finally spoke up. "You warm, Beav?"

"Uh... I guess? It's kinda warm today, yeah."

"Yeah. Well, are- do you- I'm going for a swim. If you want to come." As though trying to push past his stumbling over his words, Freddy hauled himself up abruptly and walked over to the river's edge. He hesitated there for a beat too long for it to be anything but nervousness before undoing the clasp on his belt and throwing his tunic off, giving Beaver half a heartbeat to see that it had definitely been the only thing Freddy had been wearing before he dived into the river.

Now, Beaver was often a wishy-washy sort of mammal, but sometimes opportunity knocked loud enough that even he heeded the call. With only a moment of paw-wringing uncertainty he leaped up and started to strip free of his clothes, which took quite a bit longer than Freddy had, and by the time he had wriggled out of his shirt and started to wrestle with his belt Freddy's head had popped out of the water, watching with curiosity and mounting amusement at Beaver. Beaver could feel himself blushing hotly under his fur but continued bravely on, and was keenly aware of Freddy's gaze dropping as his pants did. He hurriedly kicked his pants and boxers off his feet and dived into the river, and in an instant his burning embarrassment was stripped away as he entered his natural habitat for the first time in longer than he cared to contemplate.

The river was fast and deep and clear, and normally dormant parts of Beaver's hindbrain started nudging him. He itched to find a suitable part of the river and start felling trees into it to create his own little artificial pond, where he could build a nice hutch where he and a pair of otters could curl up safe, protected from the world around them. His mind lingered on the mental image for a moment as he floated, before being shaken from his reverie as a familiar sleek form zipped past his field of view. Even more lithe and agile in the water than he was out of it, Freddy seemed almost entirely transformed from his usual plodding self as he swam circles around the free-floating Beaver.

Well, two could play at that game. Beaver started to beat his powerful tail and webbed paws, and noted with satisfaction the surprise on Freddy's face as he quickly caught up to him. Where an otter's grace was magnified in the water, a beaver in the water was utterly transformed from the slow, careful creature on land, the clumsy length of tail becoming a powerful muscle that propelled him through the water with ease. Freddy recovered from his shock quickly and the two started swimming downstream in tandem, spiraling around one another as they exulted in the sheer joy of speed.

Eventually their seemingly boundless energy ran down and the two started to drift on the surface, letting loose the joyful laughs they couldn't release underwater. Freddy flipped onto his back in the adorable otter way and reached out a paw towards Beaver, apparently without thinking. Beaver looked at it for a moment, drifting with just his head and part of his back out of the water, knowing he couldn't float in the way that otters did, and before the doubts could start to build up he decided to improvise - he drove himself forward with a single beat of his tail, and his head gently ran aground on Freddy's chest, his chin coming to rest at the base of Freddy's neck. Freddy twitched in surprise at the impact, but calmed down quickly, and ran the paw that had been extended towards him over his back, sending a happy shiver through Beaver. The two of them gently floated, the steady beat of their tails keeping the current from taking them downstream.

In the water, he didn't feel so ungainly next to Freddy. He was, quite literally, in his element. And with Freddy's heartbeat keeping a gentle rhythm under his chin, he felt he would almost be quite happy staying there forever. There was only one thing missing.

As if reading his mind, Freddy broke the silence. "You think Jacob would want to come next time?"

Beaver's smile grew even wider. "I'm sure he would."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said in the previous A/N, Jacob was the one that won my heart, and it seems a fair few readers agreed. So I decided I'd give Freddy his chance in the spotlight to see if he could find as much popularity as Jacob. Will it succeed? I don't know! Jacob's manic twink adorableness has a kind of mass appeal it's hard to compete with, but I'm hoping that Freddy's moody twunk depth will win a heart or two. If I do continue this, whether the three-way plans continue or it focuses on Jacob will probably be influenced by how well this goes over, but if inspiration strikes one way or the other, all feedback will be disregarded. Sorry guys, the muse has veto powers.


	3. Chapter 3

"Damn it."

"What?" Freddy asked, not looking up from the screen of his DS.

"Beaver forgot his umbrella."

That got Freddy to glance up, first out the window at the rain bucketing down as he winced in sympathy for Beaver, but then sideways, with a smirk at Jacob. "Would've thought you'd have left it with the lunch you packed for him, since you've gone all housewife for him lately." With long practice, he ducked a swipe at his head.

"Oh please. Like you're one to talk. 'Oh, Freddy, let me show you the magical world outside of video games!' He's your manic pixie dream beaver." Jacob sidestepped a lazy kick from Freddy, who hadn't even looked up from his DS to aim.

"Are you high? It's all you, man. 'Oh, are you missing your ex-girlfriend? Maybe I can be your girlfriend tonight~'" He braced to dodge a blow that didn't come, then winced at himself. "Shit, sorry, forget I mentioned her."

Jacob laughed, only slightly brittle. "No, that's fine. Her loss, right?" He shook his head, shedding the thought. "Seriously, though, I practically asked him if he was into you and he didn't say no. You should jump on that if you're still swinging that way."

"Wait, what?" For the first time, Freddy turned his attention entirely away from the DS. "What do you mean, 'practically'?"

"Well, we were talking about his big 'grand tour' and he pretty much admitted to hooking up with a dude or two during it, and then I asked what brought his mind to it and he got that look when he's trying not to be the big old transparent sweetheart that he is and didn't answer. So what else would that mean that he's got a thing for mister gay-for-riparian-mammals over here?"

Freddy put his DS down. "Oh, you- that means he's hot for YOU, you twit!"

"Don't be ridiculous. You're the one he's letting drag him out to your nerd festivals."

"They're Tribal Faires!" He leaped at Jacob who ducked under the lunge, but was unprepared for Freddy to stick the landing and lunge at him again from behind. Very soon, Jacob was pinned against the lounge Freddy had been sitting on. "Say it. Say that Beav's hot for you!"

"That's stupid!"

"Then at least say that they're not nerd festivals!"

"That's even more stupid!" Jacob elbowed Freddy in the gut, and took advantage of the moment of distraction that bought him to wriggle free. "Wait, you really did drag him to a Tribal Faire? I just assumed you two grabbed lunch somewhere or something!"

"I didn't drag him anywhere." Freddy considered going for another dive at Jacob, but thought better of it and flopped back onto the lounge instead. "He basically twisted my arm into going. I was going to skip it again."

"Oh wow, he really is your manic pixie dream beaver! Did he get you to get the sling out?"

Freddy mumbled something in reply.

"Can't hear you, buddy."

"Okay, fine, yes, he encouraged me a bit with the sling."

"Ha!"

"But when we were floating together, I asked if he'd want to bring you next time and he said yes!"

"Wait, what?"

"What what?"

"You were floating together?"

"Yeah, we went swimming together and he couldn't do the usual floating thing so he just sorta docked his chin on my chest. What about it?"

"That's not a thing for beavers. You know that, right?"

"What?"

"Yeah, they aren't social in the river. The only ones they tolerate sharing the water with are blood relatives-" and Jacob grinned at Freddy, victorious - "and mates!"

Freddy just stared at Jacob, before marching off to check the internet.

\---

A solid hour of research and discussion later, they were approaching a conclusion.

"Maybe he's just hot for otter."

"Everyone's hot for otter, Jacob. We're just so damn sexy." Freddy gazed through the computer screen thoughtfully. "I don't think it's just that, though. There were other otters at the Tribal Faire and he didn't even glance at them."

"He definitely feasts his eyes when it's us two, though. Especially when we wrestle. I just assumed he was looking at you."

"And I assumed you."

They looked at each other thoughtfully. "You can-" "I should-"

They both looked at each other, then they both opened their mouths to speak again, then Freddy said "no, fuck this, we're not doing the stupid fucking sitcom thing. Say your thing."

Jacob laughed a bit. "I was going to say, you should have him. He's been good for you, you always liked those stupid nerd parties but you haven't been to one in ages. He can show you the world!"

"You're the one that was tying himself up about you-know-who until he swooped in to mend your fucking broken heart. I'm the one that should bow out here, it's a fairy tale ending with you two."

They both lapsed into silence, looking at each other, a hint of challenge in their eyes. Before another bout of wrestling broke out, Jacob cocked his head thoughtfully. "Hey, remember Josie and Greg and Jules, from college?"

"Oh god, those three airheads. Don't remind me. Why- wait, you don't mean- they didn't even make it to their second anniversary!"

"I mean, I'm not saying we marry Beaver. But it looks like we've already got some twisted love triangle thing going on, why not make it fun?"

"Wait, you don't mean, like, you and me-"

"God no, man, that'd be weird!"

They both forced a chuckle, avoiding each other's look, then glancing back, then avoiding each other's glance all over again.

"Okay, so, if we were going to make this happen, how would we put the moves on our buddy Beav?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am tickled pink to say that Beaver wrote an absolutely fantastic culmination of the will-they-won't-they: http://not-an-artblog.tumblr.com/post/157331291918/wew-this-is-a-bigun


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A prequel to our previous adventures with Beav and the otters, featuring Freddy and Jacob in their final year of high school. NAH is entirely to blame for spreading the otter curse to me.
> 
> They're eighteen, I swear. It's the end of their last year of high school, it's not even that much of a stretch for them to be legal.

Jacob looked up from the magazine he was flicking through as he heard the doorbell ring, then his mother's muffled voice welcoming someone. The responding voice's familiarity to him was second only to his own parents, and he smiled automatically. Moments later the door to his room swung open and Freddy strode in, a rare spring in his step, letting the door swing shut behind him again.

Jacob raised an eyebrow at his friend over the magazine, and Freddy grinned back. "I did it. Asked Lucy to prom, she said yes."

Jacob gave a low whistle. "Nice. She is way out of your league, even if she's into the same weird nerd shit as you. But isn't that cheating on your internet girlfriend?"

Freddy winced, and then scowled. "Look, it's just for prom, alright? She's got a date for her prom, too. She says her parents made her."

The heat in his voice caused Jacob to raise his paws in supplication. "Okay, just making fun. How are things going with her, anyway?"

Freddy got that goofy smile that he always got when he talked about her, and he climbed up onto the bed to sit opposite Jacob, leaning against the wall. "We'll be meeting up in the summer. Really looking forward to it."

"I bet. Gonna actually do all the filthy stuff you two pretend to do to each other in Woolcraft?"

Freddy gave Jacob another scowl, then his goofy smile returned. "Okay, yeah. That's the plan." Jacob just smiled and rolled his eyes as Freddy was lost in reverie. Then Freddy's attention returned to reality, and he looked over to Jacob. "You're still going with whatsherface, right? The sea mink from the swim team?"

"Vicky, yeah." Jacob tried to sound casual, but his voice broke right in the middle of those two words, and he shifted uncomfortably where he sat.

"Okay, what's up." Freddy always could see right through him.

Jacob shifted some more, then he spilled the beans. "I think I might have bitten off way more than I can chew here. I mean, Vicky has a bit of a reputation, and I didn't really believe it, but I was talking to her about our plans and she actually said to me, 'play your cards right and you might get lucky'. She said that! And I don't even have cards, and if I did I wouldn't know how to play them at all!"

"I swear, you must be the only jock in the school that hasn't got past first base." Freddy's tone was mocking, but Jacob knew better than to take it seriously. So his response was to throw a pillow at Freddy's head. Naturally, Freddy dodged it and dived at him, and a short wrestle later they declared a wordless truce as neither managed to get the upper hand. But the interlude had given Jacob time to think.

"Lucy. I know that name. Didn't your character and her character have a thing in that dice game you play?"

"That was two years ago!" Freddy's response was instant and cagey, and Jacob knew he'd found a vulnerable spot.

"What was it? 'Forbidden Love in the Forbidden Grove'? You even got one of your friends to draw it!"

"That guy's always drawing, it's not a big deal!"

"Yeah, except it's still on your fucking wall. Are you seriously saying you don't still have a thing for her?"

Freddy squirmed in place. "Like, a quarter of a thing. Half at most," he reluctantly admitted.

"And you've asked her to prom? You're as doomed as I am. If you don't count typefucking, you've got even less experience than I do."

"So what," was Freddy's muttered reply, as he stared sullenly at nothing. "I know it's not going to go anywhere."

Jacob paused, a stab of guilt going through him as he realized he'd touched a bigger nerve than he expected. Freddy was usually the more stoic of the two of them, so it always took him by surprise when something managed to sneak past the other otter's armour and draw metaphorical blood.

He hesitated as the ghost of an idea that'd been hovering in the back of his mind leapt to the forefront. He opened his mouth to give voice to it, then paused, licking his lips nervously. "Look, you're out of your depth, I'm out of mine. We're both diving too deep here. So what if, y'know, maybe if we-" He gave a nervous laugh as he trailed off.

Freddy tilted his head as he side-eyed him. "What?"

Jacob felt himself plunge forward, feeling helpless to stop himself from voicing the thought he wished he'd never had. "Maybe we can, you know, practice. On each other."

"What, dancing?" 

Jacob cringed internally. But it was too late to back out now. If he tried, he knew Freddy would sense a chance to get even for drawing blood about Lucy and draw it out of him. "No, like, kissing."

The words hung in the air between them as Freddy turned to look straight on at him. The moment stretched out into an exquisitely awkward eternity as Jacob's mind ran through all the ways that he was sure this was about to go disastrously wrong. Freddy would think he was hitting on him. He'd storm out. He'd tell everyone at school that Jacob was gay. He'd lose all his friends. He'd be booted from the swim team. He'd-

"Just practice," he realized Freddy was saying. "For our prom dates. So we can get lucky with them." He seemed to be talking more to himself than to Jacob. "I guess... I guess that wouldn't be too weird. Right?"

"Right," Jacob agreed as relief flooded through him. Then he watched as Freddy shuffled along the bed awkwardly until he was sitting side by side with him, both of them leaned against the wall. "So, uh..."

They looked at each other, their faces inches away, then averted their eyes a second after their gaze met. "I, um," Jacob licked his lips again. "I guess that we'd- I mean, that one of us and our prom date- would be face to face?" The two of them shuffled around on the bed until they were both on their knees facing each other. Freddy wobbled slightly and reached out to grab Jacob's arm for support, and then flinched away. "No, that works," Jacob said, reaching out his paws to rest them gently on Freddy's hips, and Freddy hesitated for a moment before doing the same to Jacob. Both of them could feel each other's paws trembling against each other.

"No homo," Freddy said, and Jacob snorted out a laugh in response. He leaned in slightly, and Freddy did the same, his lips puckered. As their faces approached each other their eyes met again, and both of them scrunched up their eyes to avoid the awkwardness as they inched closer with agonizingly slowness. Their lips finally brushed over each other's and they both flinched back.

They opened their eyes and looked at each other awkwardly, sitting back on their haunches. Finally, Freddy broke the silence. "That was pathetic," he stated flatly.

Jacob gave a nervous laugh. "Right? That's how you'd kiss your grandmother."

"Literally nobody would get laid kissing like that."

"Good thing we're practicing then."

Freddy nodded in agreement. With renewed determination, they sat up again, and leaned closer with eyes open, their breath meeting and mingling as the distance between them shrank. With barely a moment of hesitation, their lips met again, and they pressed their mouths together in a longer kiss - and this time it deserved the title, as their lips relaxed and pressed against each other. Jacob relaxed into the kiss, and from the way his body relaxed under his paws he was sure Freddy was less tense too. His lips were too dry, he thought dimly to himself, and without thinking he tried to wet them without breaking the kiss and Freddy jerked back in surprise.

Oh shit, he thought. "Oh, sorry, I just-"

Freddy blinked rapidly and shook his head. "No, I mean, it's- we're practicing, yeah? I was just surprised, that's all."

"So... tongue, then?"

"Yeah. I mean, they'd be expecting it, right?"

"They would," Jacob agreed eagerly.

A moment later, their lips met again and parted, their tongues meeting midway. Jacob realized he had no idea what the goal here was. Was he trying to get his tongue past Freddy's? Their tongues fenced back and forth as they met and immediately shrank back awkwardly, but despite the strangeness of it all Jacob felt excitement surge through him. 

As their tongues met again, their eyes met once more, and a moment of unspoken communication passed between them. Two sets of eyes narrowed as they stared each other down, and suddenly there was a purpose to the aimless, awkward clash of tongues. Freddy's tongue darted forward to try to slip past Jacob's, but Jacob was ready, and he did his best to try to pin it against the roof of Freddy's mouth with his own tongue. It was a bizarrely awkward rendition of their usual wrestling matches, played out entirely in the space between their lips.

Their paws went from resting lightly at each other's side to gripping each other as they pushed back and forth, struggling for leverage on the soft surface of the bed, and Jacob gradually managed to push Freddy back, his swimmer's muscles allowing him to overpower the less active otter, until Freddy was laying back on the bed with Jacob atop him. Freddy let out a noise that was halfway between a groan of frustration and a moan of pleasure, and Jacob dimly realized that their new position had them pressed against each other along the full length of their bodies, and at some point he'd become rock hard and his length was pushed up against Freddy's body and he could feel what could only be Freddy's own erection pressed up against him, and he couldn't stop himself from grinding against Freddy and felt Freddy move to reciprocate-

Footsteps.

Both of their eyes flew open and they both froze rigid as footsteps came along the hallway, too petrified with shock and sudden realization to do anything but stare at each other in horror as the footsteps of one of Jacob's parents came closer to the door-

And went by.

Their bodies went limp with relief as Jacob collapsed on top of Freddy, their mouths parting as they both gasped for breath. He lifted himself gingerly off Freddy as the other otter pushed himself up off the bed, their eyes meeting then parting then meeting again as they both vacillated between looking at each other and looking at anything but each other.

"I, um," Freddy began, his voice a hoarse growl. He cleared his throat and started again. "I gotta go to the bathroom." He clambered off the bed and seemed to flee from the room, his gait awkward.

As the door swung shut again, Jacob was left alone with the realization that he was incredibly, almost painfully turned on. Unable to resist, he pushed his paw against his erection, through his shorts, and barely managed to keep from moaning at the feeling. He looked again at the door, biting his lip in indecision, then decided that with how excited he was, he almost certainly had enough time, even if Freddy actually was going to the bathroom instead of doing what Jacob was thinking about doing. So with a glance at the bedside table to confirm that he had tissues on hand, he wriggled his shorts down his hips and wrapped a paw around his length.

He couldn't help but moan at the contact, though he managed to stuff his other paw in his mouth to stifle the noise. He was so aroused that he'd been leaking precum into his underpants, and a few pumps of his paw had it almost soaked with his own secretions, and he fell back onto the bed as the sensations flooded through him. He was already so close, and he cast his mind around trying to latch onto a mental image to finish on, either Vicky or one of the girls in the porn he had seen or anyone but all he could think of was Freddy, and-

The door swung open and Jacob sat bolt upright, adrenaline and terror flooding through him, as Freddy slunk back in, shutting the door behind him. "There's someone already in-" he began, then froze as he turned away from the door and caught sight of Jacob on the bed, his shorts around his knees and his dick in his paw.

They stood like that for what felt like forever, frozen in a tableau of shame. The inevitable consequences that flashed through Jacob's mind were beyond terrible. This had basically doomed his entire life. Everything was ruined forever. Freddy was going to recoil in horror and disgust and run from the room, and-

Then his internal meltdown was derailed when he saw Freddy's expression. He didn't look horrified or disgusted or anything like that. He was biting his lip and looking from Jacob's face to his crotch and shifting from paw to paw. "Collateral damage," he finally blurted out.

"What?" Jacob said, after a long pause as he tried to parse that. He was pretty sure he should take his paw off his dick, but he was also pretty sure that he shouldn't draw attention to where his paw was by moving it, so he settled for being paralyzed by indecision.

"This was for, um," Freddy blinked rapidly for a moment, his eyes darting back and forth. "Lucy! And Vicky. So if we did get, uh, a bit..."

"Then it's just collateral damage," Jacob interrupted, catching on.

"Exactly. Nothing wrong with that. Just a thing that happens, right?"

"Right." Jacob looked from Freddy to down at himself, hesitating.

"So if you were to- and if I-" Freddy continued.

"Then it's just a thing," Jacob said, almost panting in anticipation.

"Yeah. It's just a thing, it's not, like, a thing, or anything."

"Exactly."

As Freddy took hesitant steps towards the bed, Jacob hesitantly moved his paw again for the first time since Freddy had returned. He gave a full-body shiver as sensation flooded through him once more, somehow magnified by Freddy's eyes on him. By the time Freddy had reached the bed and clambered on to it, moving slowly with his eyes fixated on the performance before him, Jacob had started a series of long, slow pumps, anticipation keeping him from charging ahead towards climax. He watched Freddy hesitate for a long moment before he slipped his own shorts and underwear down his thighs - boxers, he noted absently - and his eyes flicked between Freddy's dick and his face as Freddy started to tend to his own extremely visible arousal.

Minutes flew by in a blur of exchanged glances, bitten lips and heavy breathing, as the two of them unconsciously mirrored each other's movements. Low gasps and muffled moans filled the room as they both edged closer to their respective releases. Suddenly, Freddy's eyes flew open and started to dart around the room. "Dude, is there-" he cut himself off as his gaze landed on the tissues on the bedside table, and Jacob followed his gaze and his own eyes widened in realization. Wordlessly, he took a pawful with his spare paw and passed them to Freddy, who accepted them with heartfelt thanks as Jacob gathered a second pawful for himself.

Jacob reached climax first, his eyes locked on the motions of Freddy's paw, and ecstasy rolled through him as he imagined it was Freddy's paw on his dick instead of his own. With the experience of a teenage boy he stifled his moans and caught most of his jizz in the tissues, though there was enough of it that some of it had splattered onto his stomach, though thankfully his shirt had ridden up enough to be clear of the splashback.

He collapsed back languidly onto the bed, breathing hard and smiling, unaware of Freddy's eyes locked on his unintentional display. He was dimly aware of a smothered moan as Freddy's own climax hit, and his head jerked up in surprise as a jet of spunk impacted his stomach. He looked over to Freddy who had been a little too slow with his own pawful of tissues, and at the thin trail of jizz that lead from Freddy's dick to Jacob's body.

He opened his mouth to protest, but was struck by a wave of... something, at the sight of Freddy's face slack with bliss. Then Freddy's eyes opened once more, and he remembered. "Dude!" he said, belatedly.

Freddy blinked at Jacob, then looked down at his body and then to the trail of jizz that linked the two otters. "Oh, damn. Sorry." He peeled an unsoiled tissue off the pawful he had used to catch his own emissions, and leaned over to carefully wipe the jizz off Jacob's stomach, and Jacob felt another wave of some sort of feeling at Freddy's tender ministrations. He shook it off and helped Freddy wipe most of the errant jizz from the sheets, and then at Jacob's instructions tucked the soiled tissues under a layer of other trash in the wastepaper basket. Then he climbed back onto the bed and lay beside Jacob with a happy sigh.

"So," he said. "You think we're ready for prom?"

"Definitely," Jacob replied, holding out his fist, and Freddy bumped it.


End file.
